We've all been there ... having to make that decision to stop playing one sport or another.
I'm facing the big one for hockey and I'm not sure I can walk away just yet. Of course, I may have to, considering I'd rather some form of memory and cohesive thought for the remainder of my life. But I may have finally taken one too many shots to the head.
Why did you 'retire' from your own sporting career and how hard was it?
Did you get a concussion? If that is the case, you really should retire. My retirement(s) came in junior high and high school - (basically, got weeded out) The last sport I was able to "make" was wrestling, couldn't make provincial hockey after bantam, and slowly couldn't make other teams. I did not want to be a bench warmer, so I stopped playing.
I think it is "easier" when you are a kid. Now I do martial arts (and I have been off for about 3 months now because of surgery) and I must admit it is killing me. I really miss it. I am not lifting now either (same reason) and that really annoys me too!
The only other "sport" I do is golf, but I have not played for about 2 years now (no time on weekends) and I do not miss it nearly as much as the 3 months of no MA and more of not lifting.
Unless you are making the big bucks to justify the risk, you really need to think about your health, even Lyndstrom had to hang them up. No fun, but ALL the scenarios for multiple concussions are SHIT. Walk away in decent health.
Peter
__________________
Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
I used to mountain bike 3-5 times per week, road ride 2-3. 75 to 100 miles off road and 50-75 on the roads. Week by week, my hands got more numb and more weak, faster and faster, until one day, the day after a long ride, I couldn't hold my laptop bag by the handle.
It's better now, but it's 15 years later and I limit rides to 2-3 hours a week. They still get numb, though. Pretty quickly, too. Very frustrating.
I'd love to ride, but not at the risk of long term damage.
Yes, concussion. Got slew-footed about a week ago, landed on my tailbone and cracked the back of my head off the ice. Helmet, yes. Mouthguard, yes. But I've had a few other concussions and the brain gets jarred easily these days.
I guess the consideration of leaving hockey is made so difficult by the fact I only started playing in 1999. I grew up in a town where only the boys played hockey. The girls figure skated and dated hockey players. I did both.
Though I didn't start playing until I was 28, I found I was actually pretty good at it. You know ... you wonder what could have been, if only I'd grown up in a different time or a different place.
Trouble is, I'm still feeling headachey and, at times, nauseous, after eight days. Bad sign, I know.
Gonna head to a walk-in tomorrow night, hope my GP is on shift and see if I can't get checked out for real.
I gave up soccer after 8th grade because of injury. I had pulled a ligament in my left leg (my dominant kicking leg) that would repull with an awkward kick. It came down to playing soccer and risking injury or letting it heal and being able to play basketball and baseball. I chose 2 over 1, but I still miss playing soccer to this day. I quit basketball after my freshman year of basketball in order to focus more on baseball. At that point, I didn't know what my interest would be in playing baseball in college, so I figured I'd focus on baseball instead of get some sparse playing time on JV basketball. I miss the shape I was in thanks to basketball, but I can live with that decision too. I don't know how I'll deal with baseball, though. Got 1 more high school season left, then maybe playing for a couple teams this summer. After that, I'll have to see. I've been able to stay involved through officiating, however, so that might be an idea if you're still addicted to the game. Youth soccer and baseball games are fun (when the coaches and parents aren't assholes) and it's a decent chunk of change (average soccer game: $30/intown; 40/travel; baseball: $35/game).
__________________
"Rust on a nail builds tetanus. Rust on a barbell builds character, strength, and attitude." -EC
"Don't spend your life wishing. Spend it doing." -FishrCutB8
"You're a mutant, like a snake with two heads or a cat shy one nipple. Be thankful that your mutation is helpful." - LD
do what's best for your health. Everything's a hobby in the long run. This stuff doesn't matter and only makes us happy temporarily. The stuff that really matters is the health of you, your family and friends. You can't replace that, but you can always replace a hobby for another hobby that's safer and you can do w/o risk to your long term health.
One of my training partners was talking about steroids the other day, which is prevalent in our sport. He says he's never done them, but isn't against people who do do them. But, he did not want to put his life in his hands when he has a wife and 2 kids at home. It's all about priorities, and while the sports we play may be fun, it's not worth risking it over something when you can have much more happiness down the road.
My 2 cents.
__________________ True Protein 5% off discount code: ZHS099 www.trueprotein.com
I reached the end of my ability in baseball. I got so little playing time in high school and I wasn't getting better fast enough for it to be worthwhile. Wrestled in high school and I had a pretty good record but I was always one of the guys who wrestled well enough to wrestle matches one week and not the next so my ability weeded me out of that. However, it lefted me with and oddly shaped neck and chronic slipped disc.
Ive had 4 concusions in my life (that i can remember! ) Waking up in a hospital and not knowing your name, not that fun.
It was my goal in life to be a pro downhill mountain bike racer just a few years ago. I traveled the country, spent tons of money, entered every contest, and mangled myself many times (broken collarbones, ankle, wrists, countless fingers, leg, and a dislocated elbow (im missing some too). As well as seeing a friend paralized for life in a race i was in. I still couldnt hardly even think about giving it up. I know how hard it is. Eventually I did convince myself to stop. But still, I wake up every morning next to my bikes and think about where I may be today if I kept riding. If you stop playing hockey, you will find other things that you love just as much as hockey (trust me!) but you will always miss hockey. Im glad I stopped when I did overall, but it was a real turning point in my life.
Why did you 'retire' from your own sporting career and how hard was it?
I used to surf weekly even though I had moved inland. One day I went out on a fairly big day. Got caught inside and was held under for a couple of minutes. A couple of LONG minutes - time slows when you cannot breath and you have no idea which way is up. At one point I thought "this is it" and tried to breath. My throat slammed shut and I saw a bunch of images...me riding my bike as a kid, my first GF kissing me, my daughter being born. Ok, that last one was rough. I wasn't freaking out then, just calm.
After I hit the surface and was able to inhale I paddled in. Walked up on the beach. I started to cry...rinsed the sand off of the board, loaded it into the bag and drove home. Slide it into the rafters and left it.
That was the end for me until a few years later. My daughter asked me what those things were hanging from the ceiling and I told her. She asked me if I ever used them....I told her no. "Why, daddy?" (3 yo kids and their questions). A few months later we went to the beach and I surfed again. I still do but no longer weekly and if it's too big I don't go out. I didn't quit my sport but went from someone who was avid to someone who just did it for fun. I enjoy it more now than before.
I quit playing semi-pro baseball four years ago. Didn't think it was retirement at the time; just said "I'll take one season off" and spend more time at home. Then I eventually decided that I'd rather be at home than be out past midnight on weeknights to play a game 40 miles from my house.
Sometimes it's hard and I miss it, but to be honest, I'd have to buy new equipment now anyway (glove, shoes, bat) if I wanted to play again. And I don't miss it enough to spend a few hundred on that stuff.
One day I realized that when I think about baseball, my first mental image is of me coaching it (haven't even done that yet... weird). My second image is going to a game and watching. Not until the third image does it involve me on the playing field. When that happened I felt comfortable calling it retirement.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Growing up, I played baseball and basketball competitively, golf and tennis recreationally, and never really got hooked by any of it. In high school, I wrestled for three years and got hooked. I was average even by high school standards, so I knew competitive collegiate wrestling wasn't going to happen and effectively "retired" after graduation. I poked around on a club team at my college (no competitive team made the club team maybe a half-step down from the collegiate level--too tough for my abilities at the time) and coached high school teams during a couple off-seasons. I still have my equipment (all in good condition) and have recently started lifting in my wrestling shoes both for biomechanical and psychological advantages. Before each season, I make some casual inquiries to local schools about volunteer coaching teams, but nothing really pans out due to my own schedule and their personnel requirements (read: insurance and liability).
I still miss it, but I doubt I'll ever get serious about it again unless I happen to fall into a good coaching situation, and it'll always be the most influential sport in my life (probably because it was then that I dropped all my weight).
__________________ No Magic Pill (the log)
My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
I never really stopped playing anything...played a lot of hockey when I was younger...but I knew early on that I wasn't going to play in the show...High School football...I was too small and slow to keep on after...so I started to play sports for fun...non contact senior mens...slo-pitch...I've been lucky that I've never had any serious injury...one sprained knee and shin splints ... It was a change in priorities that changed what and where I play.
__________________
Take care of your lawn
and
the grass will be greener on your side of the fence
Steve Young had to stop playing football because the doctors told him if he had one more concussion, he could of been dead or paralized for the rest of his life.
Do whatever is best for you and listen to your body. If you have gotten so many concussions (hopefully you have been to the doctor), then it time to end your career before something worse happens the next time you get that concussion. My cousin had to do the same thing (she played soccer and got so many concussions and had to end her career in college)
You play? You and me ... we might know the same peeps ...
I used to play "competitive" mens A-ball slo-pitch now I just play in a co-ed rec league that is a prelude to beer and chit-chat....
I get to play on the same team as my wife which is great fun...she hold the women's home run record for a single season at 7. I smile when ever the left fielder pinches in cuz its a girl and then see his knees buckle when it's twenty feet over his head....by the end of the season they all said...back up she's the one!!!
__________________
Take care of your lawn
and
the grass will be greener on your side of the fence
And on topic ... saw my GP last night. He is scheduling me for a CT scan. If I had gone in right away, instead of waiting nine days, he would have been able to send me to emerg and I would have gotten one right away. As it stands, it will probably be a two- to three-week wait. But hey, it's universal health care, so I don't have to pay for it.
In the meantime, I'm to go half-speed on my cardio and not strain on my weights. My GP says yoga would be the best route to take for the next 10 days to two weeks.
And hockey is a definite no-no until the CT scan can show the damage to my brain.
If I haven't already mentioned, this is concussion No. 5.
I love that! Except I'm an oppo hitter ... and it's even funnier, because the right fielder always steps in on me if he doesn't me.
So you're familiar with the Legends and the Jesters? You been to Canadians a few times?
I push the ball as well...my power is to right-center...but there is nothing better than the smoking liner over first down the line for the easy triple.
Nope missed the Nationals by technicalitie ...our certified coach wasn't present at the Provincial tourney and after we went 8-0 they disqualified us...that killed our team the next year only half the guys came back....I drifted the year after
__________________
Take care of your lawn
and
the grass will be greener on your side of the fence
i never felt like i 'retired' from any sport. i wrestled from 4 years old to 15-16 years old and then quit bc i found other interests. that is to say ummm... i decided to stop rolling around on the mat with dudes and decided to pursue rolling around with the fairer gender but i played football, soccer,and baseball also as a kid and just decided to stop doing it over time. in college i did aikido which i didn't care for and switched to judo which i loved. in one semester i severly sprained my ankle, dislocated my shoulder and broke a rib. so i stopped but i knew it was a hiatus. except that i never got back to judo now i do brazilian jiu jitsu and kung fu. i like full contact fighting but i can see that its one of those things that i will have to stop doing in the next few years. so i am looking at a retirement of sorts and definately not looking forward to it. but as it turns out i will probably get back into judo in about 9 months when i move to japan. so i guess you could say i am coming out of judo retirement (?) or in my mind picking up where i left off. we'll see.
but it sucks to have to quit somehting you love. but if it is hurting you it is probably for the best. its like an abusive relationship. lol. it hurts you but you still love it and don't want to leave. but in the end you know you have to for your own good.
my advice flashy is (if you don't already) take up coaching. even if its a kids league. that way you can still be out there and still be "in the game" even if you can't be inthe game. better than nothing.
__________________
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
Swim! Bike! Run!
1.5k!, 40k!, 10k!
Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad.
i've never really hung anything up. i've had 4 concussions...and now i'm going to start playing rugby. i just finished my collegiate swimming career. if i want to swim again, i'll have to do Masters. i haven't played soccer in ages, basketball same thing. i just usually pick something else up along the way - rather than hanging anything up.
when one door closes, another one will open up
__________________ I Will Try
Open Competition Log
Hanging them up
) Waking up in a hospital and not knowing your name, not that fun.
now I just play in a co-ed rec league that is a prelude to beer and chit-chat....
but i played football, soccer,and baseball also as a kid and just decided to stop doing it over time. in college i did aikido which i didn't care for and switched to judo which i loved. in one semester i severly sprained my ankle, dislocated my shoulder and broke a rib. so i stopped but i knew it was a hiatus. except that i never got back to judo 
now i do brazilian jiu jitsu and kung fu. i like full contact fighting but i can see that its one of those things that i will have to stop doing in the next few years. so i am looking at a retirement of sorts and definately not looking forward to it. but as it turns out i will probably get back into judo in about 9 months when i move to japan. so i guess you could say i am coming out of judo retirement (?) or in my mind picking up where i left off. we'll see. 
Linear Mode
